Shamanic Ninja
by Kasek
Summary: At the age of 5, it is discovered that Naruto can see spirits, and he is immediately taken in by the Asakura clan. What fate awaits a shamanic ninja with a demon inside of him?
1. The Asakura Clan

**Kasek: **Argh.... I know this isn't one of my old stories, but an update is an update. Here's a glimpse into something I've had stuck in my head for a LONG time, and that I hope to turn into a serious story sometime soon (I have other chapters of this written, which is why this is in its own spot, so I'll have those up after there's some interest in this XP)

-o-o-

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Shaman King**

A young, 5-year old Uzumaki Naruto was wandering around town, continuously scowling at all those around him as he walked down the street- his resentment towards the world did not go unrequited, as everyone who saw him scowled back. Or rather, it was the other way around- the world scowled at this boy, and the boy returned their feelings.

As the boy continued to travel down the street, his gaze turned ever lower, until his face was turned towards the ground immediately in front, no longer paying attention to where he was going, but to his feet moving one at a time. This behavior was common in the boy, despite knowing that he shouldn't, as it could lead to trouble- which, secretly, the boy hoped for. However, this day, this method of attention-seeking would drive him into a lifetime's worth of trouble.

"Oof!" The boy blinked as he stepped away from what he had just walked into. He paled at the sight- it was a very large, porcelain white-furred creature, that appeared to be a kitsune of sorts. The face was like a ceremonial mask, the facial features outlined in red. It was wearing a shrine gate as a collar for some reason, and a gold bulb with a point was on its tail.

The creature looked at him for a moment, and spoke with a feminine voice. "Ah... a boy with "the talent", I see."

Naruto was understandably scared. "Wh-what are you?"

It gave a short bark- a laugh of sorts, as a villager walked right through it. "It is best not to speak to me- to everyone else, I am but a spirit that they neither see nor hear."

He gulped- a spirit? He could hear and touch it... but nobody else could. It had mentioned a "talent"... He looked it in what he assumed to be the eye. "Does that mean... I'm special?"

The creature shook its head. "No... you are not special. Not yet. But if you wish to be special... I could introduce you to someone who could make you so. Just wait here, by my side, and he will come shortly." It walked closer to the side of the road, and Naruto followed, entranced by the whole experience. Soon enough, a man in monk's clothing and a wooden bird mask came out of a shop next to them. The man turned his gaze first to the kitsune, whose own gaze turned to the boy. Naruto froze under the stare of the mask- he normally could see somebody's eyes, but this person... with no eyes with which he could see what they were feeling, Naruto could not tell if they were the same cold eyes that everyone else gazed upon him with.

"Boy... you can see her?"

He nodded. "Y-yes."

The man was silent for a moment. "...Where are your parents?"

Naruto felt- what was it? Sadness, anger? Despair, fury? He could not tell what it was- it was like there was a hole in his heart. "...I don't have any."

The mask continued staring at him with its empty eyes, and after a moment the man seemed to sigh. "Well... if you have nothing better to do, follow me. I'm sure... they wouldn't mind."

-o-o-

Naruto was astonished at the size of the compound the man had brought him to. "What is this place? I haven't been to this part of the village before..."

The man chuckled. "This... is the Asakura Clan compound. I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of us- most of our members have long since left this village for other lands. The only people left... are the head, his daughter, her son, and for the moment, myself, my apprentice, and another apprentice that comes by whenever they can. If they accept you... you could start living here, if you wish."

This caught Naruto's whole-hearted attention. "Wh-what? Why? Why would you take me in?"

The man sighed again. "This family... takes in those with "the talent", and seeks to train them so that they may use it correctly and pass it on to future generations. You would not be the first orphan they have taken in... and probably not the last, either, considering the nature of this village. Do you wish to at least try to gain entrance?"

Naruto seemed to think for a moment. "What is this "talent", anyways?"

He could swear the man was smiling under his mask. "Shamanic talent. The ability to see spirits, and by extension to interact with them. Even in this village full of spiritually powerful ninja, shamanic ability is rare. The world of spirits is truly a wonderful thing- to form bonds with spirits is considered a privilege, one which we enjoy greatly. Even if you choose not to become a shaman, the ability to see ghosts stays with someone for life- your life will never be truly "normal", regardless of whether or not you choose to pursue this path."

Naruto cringed at the man's words. "Never be normal... when you phrase it like that, why shouldn't I? But... to be accepted by anybody, even if it's just spirits..." The man seemed surprised when Naruto began sincerely crying. Naruto rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. "That's something... I really, really want..."

The man knelt down besides Naruto and patted him on the shoulder. "Well, in that case, we better get you inside so you can meet the head of the house."

-o-o-

Naruto gulped as he sat on his knees in front of a very, very, short old man- the top of his head was bald, but two extensions of black hair came from the back and went up and to the sides. Wearing a kimono carrying a pipe, he reminded Naruto of a short, younger version of old man Hokage. "And why have you brought this boy before me... Mikihisa."

"Mikihisa" didn't seem intimidated in the least by this man. "He's an orphan with the capacity to become a shaman- what other reason do I need... Father."

This "father" smirked slightly. "Are you going to leave him to me, or train him yourself? I do have Yoh to train, after all. Or do you think Keiko should train him?"

Mikihisa gave a monosyllabic laugh. "I don't think this boy wishes to become a miko... I have my travels, so I was hoping you could take him in. Is that not possible...?"

The elder man took a puff of his pipe. "Well... I could use another hand around the compound to help with chores... poor Yoh can't do everything himself."

Naruto looked as the masked one sighed. "Don't you use your shikigami for such things, anyways...?"

The elder man laughed at that. "I do, but Yoh needs physical training as well, you know. ...I guess adding another student wouldn't be too much trouble, if he himself doesn't cause trouble. By the way... what's your name, boy?"

Naruto gulped- this was it, the moment of truth. "U-Uzumaki Naruto."

He could see the old man's eyes widen for a moment. "U-Uzumaki... ...it has been a while since I've heard that name. I suppose it comes as no surprise that _you_ of all children have shamanic talent..."

It was silent for a bit longer, as Naruto awaited judgment tensely. "...well, I guess a child as special as this deserves our attention. I just need to run it over with the Hokage first, and then he can move in with Keiko, Yoh, and myself."

The man's eyes were widened again when he saw tears fall from Naruto's eyes. Naruto, too, was surprised at how much he was crying today. "Th-thank you so much... this means... so much to me..."

The man gave a genuine smile. "Glad to hear that, Naruto."

-o-o-

The Hokage, leader of Konohagakure, closed his eyes in thought as he faced the head of the Asakura clan. "...Naruto has shamanic ability, hmm? I was hoping to enter him in the Shinobi Academy sometime soon... but now I don't know if I should."

The Asakura head was more serious than he was with Mikihisa. "Shamanic ninja are extremely talented at what they do... but their job comes with a much higher risk than normal ninja, due to having to deal with both living and dead humans, as well as various other beings. Even at his age, Itachi is a very serious person- he has to kill, and then he has to deal with the souls of those he kills. He doesn't say anything about it, but he carries such a great burden... I wouldn't be surprised if he snapped under all that pressure. He wouldn't be the first shaman to go mad... such a thing is not something I wish to witness."

The Hokage, also known as Sarutobi, rubbed his chin as he contemplated the situation. "But at the same time, Naruto is a child raised in an era of peace... he wouldn't be a ninja until he is at least as old as Itachi is now. By that time, Naruto may be more mentally capable of such a burden..."

"Asakura" was also thinking as hard as he could. "I hope that is so... there have been successful shamanistic ninja in the past. There are a few that continue to live in this village today, after all." There was silence for a moment between the two elder men. "...I can only assume that his "specialness" is the cause of his shamanic ability... even so, becoming a shaman may help him control himself when the need arises."

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes for a moment. "About that... why is it that you of all people seem to not care about Naruto's "specialness"? I would think that in your case you would fear him even more..."

Asakura smiled to himself. "Ah... if I may speak freely... possession is not a pretty thing. Did you know, Hokage-sama... a spirit sharing a body with a living being- it causes great stress on the host body. If the body doesn't have any shamanic talent inside of it, the stress causes the body to collapse and the bodily functions to cease, one by one, ever so slowly, within a few hours of the spirit first entering the body. Should the spirit not leave... death is certain. The more powerful the spirit, the faster the process- the average human should consider it a miracle for living if he were to ever be possessed by a Kami-class spirit, even for a few moments. For even the most powerful of shamans, sharing a body with such a powerful spirit for more than a half-hour at best is suicide."

The Hokage found himself smiling by the end. "Ah... so basically, you treat him as normal because you know for a fact that he is not currently possessed... I wish the rest of the village had such confidence!"

The shorter man nodded. "Though, I don't know much about shinobi sealing techniques, let alone shamanic shinobi sealing techniques, so I have no clue what could lead to possession... but I should put confidence in my Hokage. After all, we shamans chose to live here under the Hokage's leadership, teaching those who would like to learn from us."

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair. "Well... if Naruto ever expresses interest in being a ninja, let me know. You have my approval to train him as a shaman."

-o-o-

Naruto was currently with Mikihisa, who was apparently leading him to the other children on the premises. The boy looked very apprehensive. "You're sure... they won't..."

Mikihisa nodded his head. "Tamao doesn't get to interact with other children often, and Yoh is... very laidback, from what I hear. I doubt they've even ever heard of you before."

Naruto seemed relieved by that thought. After another moment, they were in a courtyard, and Naruto could see two children his age sitting in the grass. Naruto looked towards Mikihisa, only to find that the man was no longer there. Grumbling to himself, Naruto began walking over to the other children- a boy his age with brown hair and in a black shirt and shorts, and a pink-haired girl in a basic pink kimono. The boy was wearing "headphones", something Naruto had seen other boys wearing before. His apprehension grew as he approached them, acheiving its height when they turned to face them. The other boy spoke first.

"Who... are you?"

Naruto swallowed, and gathered his courage. "M-my name's Naruto... I'm going to be training here to be a shaman."

The other boy seemed surprised for a moment, and then he smiled. "Great! I was just thinking it would be nice if there more people besides just Gramps, Mom, and Tamao around here. Itachi only visits once in a while."

"Tamao" seemed downhearted to hear that, but she brightened up after a moment. "Nice to meet you, Naruto. I'm Tamao, and this is Yoh-sama."

Yoh gave a slight deadpan look to Tamao. "I can introduce myself you know... and you don't have to call me Yoh-sama either..."

Naruto tilted his head. "Wait, what about that guy in the mask?"

Yoh seemed to be surprised again. "...that's my dad. He doesn't hang around much at all. He brings Tamao here for a break in training and leaves, and then comes back to take her out for more training. It'll be nice having someone else my age who will be around more... unless my dad's taking you with Tamao for training, as well."

The blond boy was a bit confused. "Why does he train her and not you?"

Yoh leaned back into the grass, staring at the clouds. "It's ascetic monk training... not really my style. Lots of hard work, and I don't get to do anything that I want to do. So, I stay here with Gramps and Mom."

Naruto felt like there was something odd about what he said. "...don't you go out into the village?"

The other boy frowned a little. "...the other kids don't believe in spirits, so they make fun of me." The frown turned into a small grin. "I only ever visit the graveyard, there are some fun guys down there, you know?"

Naruto was confused, and unlike earlier was feeling nervous about meeting, well, _dead people_. "I've... never seen a spirit before today, so I haven't actually met any spirits besides that big fox..."

Tamao took on a thinking pose for a moment. "Umm. If it was Mikihisa-sama's spirit, then that would be Imari... there are a couple of other spirits that live around here, but..."

Blue eyes blinked as Naruto waited for more. "But...?"

Yoh decided to speak for Tamao. "Ponchi and Conchi are... annoying. Who knows if you'll ever get used to _those _two."

Naruto gulped at hearing that. "W-well, there are good spirits around, right?"

Yoh nodded. "Yep! But, like I said, they're at the graveyard. Well, the civilian graveyard, anyways, the shinobi graveyard is mostly a bunch of stiffs. And you can't visit too often, or people start looking at you weird, you know?"

The blond gave a small chuckle at that, some more nervousness slipping away. "Yeah... but, spirit friends you only see some of the time... that's better than having no friends at all, right?"

The other boy seemed to think about this for a moment. "No friends at all..." His mood was apparently dampened. "No friends, huh... that's not something I want to know what it's like. But..." His small grin returned. "Hey, the three of us have each other now, right?"

Naruto's face broke out into his own grin- the first one he could remember. "Yeah!"

-o-o-  
**  
****Kasek: **I hate myself for not being able to actually FOCUS on a single project, but that's what you get when you mix one brain condition with another, I guess (Not telling you which two, though :p Just that it's bad enough to warrant disability status). (Also, going over this chapter, the writing seems especially hollow... it feels weird to me ~.~ Does anyone reading this agree with me?)

So, thoughts? Opinions? I'm trying my best to keep at least the core cast of Shaman King intact, but there will be characters who will never appear. On Naruto's side, there will definitely be a number of characters who are now shaman, though not too many from Konoha itself.


	2. The Fate of Shamanic Ninja?

**Opening Note: **Sorry I didn't upload this hours earlier, but I've had a pretty busy day. I hope the story is making more sense to you guys than it is to me, I think I was pretty out of it when I wrote this... Doesn't mean I don't remember where I was going with it, these first two chapters just feel awkward to me, is all. Maybe the sentences are too long...? Meh. Anyways, stop reading what I'm saying and read the story! (Also, cookie to InfinityAtmo for noticing that Tamao's the header character for the Shaman King side, and hush-money to the people who brought up the issue of Kushina.)

-o-o-

**Disclaimer: I own neither Shaman King nor Naruto.**

-o-o-

A now slightly older Naruto (by one year) sat in a classroom in "the Academy", a place where aspiring shinobi came to learn. As he sat in the back row, watching all of the students intermingle, he began wondering if this was such a good idea.

He had begun wanting to be a shinobi when he had met Itachi. The older boy had dropped by while Naruto was learning to summon "shikigami", or to be more accurate the "ko-oni", the small beings that accompanied Yohmei (Yoh's grandfather, the head of the Asakura household). It turned out that, despite being from a shinobi clan, and indeed being a shinobi himself, Itachi took shaman lessons from the Asakura clan. Yohmei had told him that the Uchiha clan were once a grand clan of shamanic shinobi, but the ability to actually see ghosts had all but fled from their precious eyes, so their shamanic traditions had been discontinued. As he was, Itachi did not have access to the old Uchiha documents about shamanic techniques, which had long since been locked away, so he decided to learn from Yohmei instead.

Even though he was still "learning" from Yohmei, Itachi was very powerful spiritually. He had a spar with Yohmei so that Naruto could see what one could do with ko-oni, and thoroughly trounced Yohmei's ko-oni with his own, which had far outnumbered the master's forces. When Naruto had asked him how he had gotten so powerful, Itachi had merely smiled and said "Being a ninja helps." Naruto had a bare understanding of what ninja were, so Itachi taught him a bit about what being a ninja was like. Naruto was fascinated with the idea, but at first he didn't want to pursue it because being a shaman was "pretty awesome" as well, and he didn't want to take time away from his shaman training. Yohmei had laughed at that, told him not to worry, and said he'd go make arrangements for Naruto to join the Academy, saying that training to be both a shaman and a ninja at the same time might be better for him in the end.

_But_, he thought to himself, _I wonder why he insisted on me going and not Yoh-sama..._ Naruto had taken to calling the boy "Yoh-sama", like Tamao did- less out of respect for Yoh, more to make Yohmei mad, as Naruto called him "Old Man" like he did with the Hokage. It didn't take long for the honorific to get ingrained in Naruto's head, so now even when he was thinking he called Yoh "-sama". It was the least he could do for the Asakura clan's taking him in, a great turning point in his life.

He observed the other children in the room. They were... well, children. Had he really expected anything different? He could see a boy not that far away from him who had a hairstyle that was oddly similar to Yoh's own hairstyle, though his hair was as dark as Itachi's was. Looking around some more, he could see a girl with the same hair color as Tamao (who had gone back to training recently), though the style was pretty different. As he was wondering if he would ever be friends with any of these children, a man who he guessed was the teacher- a man with a slightly darker skin color, brown hair in a ponytail- came into the room and stood in the front. "Alright, kids, settle down, it's time for class to start."

-o-o-

Naruto had found class boring- he hadn't been told anything Itachi hadn't told him. Although, since this was only his first day of many, he guessed that that was probably exactly why Itachi had told him what he had- it was nothing that couldn't be found out by the public.

He thought back to "introductions"- he hadn't exactly won any points with that. They were supposed to say names, birthdays, and such, and answer any questions they were asked by the other students. Someone had asked him where his favorite place to hang out was, since he had stopped hanging out in the village- he had answered truthfully, "the graveyard", and when asked why, he had again replied with the truth- "for the atmosphere". He had found the idea creepy himself at first, but he was so used to it now that he had forgotten that other kids would find it off-putting.

So, when it came time for the kids to just hang around on the Academy grounds, he had found himself very much alone. He sat under a tree at the far end, just watching all of the other kids having fun. He looked down, and saw leaves at the ground near him. He quickly summoned up a few ko-oni- apparently Naruto was quite proficient in it compared to Yoh, who had been training for as long as he could think straight, and who could barely summon one of the beings by himself. Yohmei had laughed at Yoh's misfortune the first time Naruto had shown he could use the technique. He directed their movements, and they danced on the ground by his feet.

After a while, Naruto noticed that someone had walked up to him, and the 'leaves' (which they would've looked like to regular humans) stopped and stared at the newcomer. Naruto looked up, and saw that it was the boy who had introduced himself as 'Uchiha Sasuke'. "Those leaf-things... they're the same ones I see with big bro sometimes... what are they?"

Naruto was surprised- he didn't expect anybody else in his class to be able to see spirits. "You can see them?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah... should I not be able to?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know... you said you see them with your brother, right? Is your brother Itachi?"

This seemed to strike a chord. "...Does this have something to do with where Itachi disappears to sometimes? He won't tell anyone where he goes."

The blond shrugged again. "If he doesn't want to tell you where he goes, then it'd be kinda mean of me to tell you, wouldn't it?"

The other boy was a little agitated. "He's my big bro! It takes away from the time he spends with me... I deserve to know!"

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Too bad!"

Sasuke seemed very angry now. "Why you-!"

-o-o-

Naruto was in the nurse's office, getting bandages put on his injuries. The nurse seemed agitated. "Guess we shouldn't expect much better from _you_... but did you honestly have to pick a fight with Uchiha Sasuke of all children?"

Naruto shrugged, and winced in pain. "I was sitting by myself until he started talking to me. Not my fault he got mad because I wouldn't do what he wanted..."

Iruka, their sensei, walked into the room. "Well, we'll overlook it because it's the first day, but please try not to cause any more trouble, alright? I get in trouble too if you guys pull stuff like this. A teacher who can't keep his students in line isn't a very good teacher."

-o-o-

Naruto was walking home when he noticed it- Sasuke was following him around. He thought for a moment on how to get rid of him, when he realized that the boy could see spirits, but didn't know what they were. Now sporting an evil grin, Naruto began hurrying to the cemetery. It was too early for most of the spirits to be out, but some were out during the day, and that would probably be enough to get him to go away.

Sure enough, once he got to the cemetery, there were some ghosts that were more than willing to spook Sasuke for laughs. Thus, Naruto managed to escape Sasuke... for now.

-o-o-

It wasn't long before Naruto saw Itachi again. Itachi was the one who started talking first, after getting Naruto alone. "I hear from my brother that you said you knew me."

Naruto shrugged. "He could see my ko-oni, and said that he had seen yours, as well... did you know he can see spirits? But, he's scared of ghosts."

Itachi smiled at that. "Really now... maybe I should bring him here to see if he wants to become a shaman too."

The blond let out his breath in a huff. "He's not exactly the nicest guy. He tried to beat me up when I wouldn't talk about you."

Itachi was amused by this. "Is that so... well, I guess I've completed my training here, so I'll have more time to spend with him. Perhaps I can bring him here as my replacement?"

Naruto was surprised to hear this. "Your training's done? I mean, yeah, training has to stop sometime, but... that seemed fast."

The older boy chuckled, now further amused. "The length of training time depends on how strong the shaman is to start with- I've actually been training for a while. Yohmei-sensei is proud that a shaman such as yourself studies under him, you know. He wishes Yoh would learn your work ethic, he might catch up to you pretty quickly if he did."

The younger boy's cheeks gained a red tint of embarassment. "I just work hard, that's all... to be the best shaman there is!"

Itachi's eyebrow raised in height. "Oh? Do you plan on being Shaman King?"

He chuckled when at the sight of confusion in Naruto's eyes. "Eh? Shaman King? What's that?"

Itachi closed his eyes as he continued to smile. "...a title, you could say. Like the Hokage is to ninja, the Shaman King is the strongest shaman."

Naruto's blue eyes seemed to sparkle with energy. "Eeeh? Really?! Then, if I worked really hard, I could be Shaman King?"

The older boy nodded. "Supposedly. But unlike the title of Hokage, which few ninja aspire to, nearly all shaman want to be Shaman King. You'll have a lot of competetion... Yoh included."

The blond seemed a lot less energetic all of a sudden. "Yoh-sama wants to be Shaman King too?"

Itachi nodded again. "Well... it depends on why you want to be Shaman King. Some might want to be Shaman King for their own selfish reasons, while others might want to be Shaman King in order to save others. If your reason turns out to be better than Yoh's, in your heart... than there shouldn't be any reason for you to not try."

Naruto began thinking deeply. "A reason, a reason..." After a moment of silence, he shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Well, I can always find a reason later, right?"

Itachi's shoulders actually seemed to shake, and the older boy patted Naruto on the head. "Yes, I'm sure you can. Well, I'll be off, Naruto. You try to get along better with Sasuke, okay?"

Naruto's face contorted in a frown. "Feh, who wants to be friends with him?"

-o-o-

It had been a year since Naruto had entered the Academy. Naruto had been rather shocked by the news- Itachi had murdered his entire clan, sans his own little brother. Itachi was a shaman, a kind one- yet, as a shinobi, he had been a harbinger of death. Yohmei had said that, as a particularly talented shinobi, it was entirely possible that the balance between those two sides of himself had caused his soul to collapse in on itself, and he had taken everyone he bared resentment for with it.

He had looked so serious to Naruto as he smoked his pipe. "You know, Naruto... the headlines of today's news... They could very well be repeated some years down the line, but with the name 'Itachi' replaced with the name 'Naruto'... and the clan 'Uchiha' replaced with 'Asakura'. Are you sure you wish to tread the same path Itachi did?"

Naruto was naturally unsure of himself for a moment, but then he remembered what Itachi had said to him once before. "...I told Itachi that... I wanted to be the best shaman there is! If I can't surpass him... how can I think about reaching the top?"

Yohmei smiled at Naruto's determination. "Heh... If that's your aim, then I suppose I can't really stop you. Now shoo, you're going to be late for school!"

-o-o-

It had been a few days since then, and it was Sasuke's first day back in the Academy after mental rehabilitation. The boy had walked into the classroom, and all chattering had stopped as soon as the children realized who it was. The dark-haired boy walked up the aisle next to Naruto's seat, and continued walking past his preferred seat, face looking down all the while.

Finally, he reached Naruto's seat, and merely stood there, without looking at him. Naruto looked at the boy apprehensively- after all, this was not normal behavior. After a few seconds, Sasuke's eyes turned to face Naruto- the blond didn't even have the time to attempt dodging the backhand Sasuke delivered into his face.

-o-o-

As the nurse examined at Naruto's bruised face, Iruka sighed in annoyance. "What did you do _this_ time, Naruto?"

Naruto seemed quite irritated that he was being blamed. "I just sat there! He walked all the way up to my desk, stood there, and then he whammed his fist into my face!" The nurse touched his nose with a cloth, and he hissed in pain.

Iruka scratched the back of his head. "Well, looks like Sasuke's not quite emotionally stable yet, if he's attacking the other students... I'm going to go take him to see the Hokage. You behave yourself, alright? I'm surprised you didn't give him a good punch yourself."

The boy grumbled to himself as the teacher left. "Feh... I don't know what that kid's problem with me is..." _His eyes... were they red? I must've imagined it... _The nurse applied ice to his face rather forcefully, and the thought was pushed from his mind with just as much force.

-o-o-  
**  
****Random notes:**

The "Yoh-sama" thing was just something I decided on for the lulz. Expect reactions from other characters finding out that Naruto actually has someone he calls -sama (If you're in this fandom but don't know what it means... it means something like 'Lord' or 'Master', so he's calling Yoh 'Master Yoh', but not in the same way that Amidamaru does). Also, yes, I admit that Naruto is a lot less energetic than he should be. I'm trying to make him 'older, faster', or something like that- he isn't out to get everyone's attention, so I figured that he'd be a lot calmer and mature for it.

I'm not trying to make Naruto super-powerful from the beginning, but for the moment his 'spirit' is more powerful than Yoh's (so if they tried the same techniques, Naruto's would be stronger)- it's just as much of a reason that Naruto's doing better than Yoh as the 'work ethic' comment Itachi made. It's not like Yoh was the strongest good guy in canon, so I hope you can forgive this ^_^;;; Plus, Naruto will DEFINITELY not be using the same abilities as Yoh, so their power levels won't matter too much. What powers will Naruto be using? Well... I plan on having Naruto's mochirei (Guardian Ghost for the dub fans) be revealed by chapter 5, you have plenty of time to guess until then. Though, I will say that his mochirei will NOT be the Kyuubi. Have I thought about it? Yes. I think it would be far more interesting to have anyone but.

For once, I have Naruto and Sasuke not being friends as kids (that's typical of my stories, new people). I thought this would be more interesting, even though Sasuke can see spirits.

Also, Itachi decided not to take Sasuke to see Yohmei for some reason or another. So, Sasuke has no shaman training right now, and I'm not planning on it before they become Genin.

I better get to work on finishing chapter 3, so see ya!


	3. A Shoulder to Cry On

**OP note: **I feel like gloating that no one's guessed Naruto's mochirei yet~ Though just by putting this here, that's going to make more people think about it. And thanks to everyone who bothered to notice the pairing of this story, instead of assuming I'd go with the ever-classic NaruHina. Also, FF is hating everything that I'm using as a linebreaker -_- There aren't really any this chapter anyways, but the other two had plenty.

Edit: Thanks a lot, guys. 304 people read this chapter, one bothered to tell me that the first paragraph didn't end. Cookie to Bobboky!

-o-o-

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Shaman King**

-o-o-

A few more years had gone by, and Naruto was still growing steadily, though mostly as a ninja. It wasn't that he had run out of things he could possibly learn- it was just that, within the realm of the Asakura clan techniques, he was only allowed to learn so much, so he would have to learn from someone else if he wanted something other than 'How to summon more and more shikigami', and a technique that Naruto still disliked the feeling of, the 'Hyoi Gattai', a technique that allowed you to borrow the power of a spirit by allowing them to share your body. It was very odd to share his body with the likes of Ponchi and Konchi, the vulgar tanuki and kitsune duo that followed Tamao- and he had to deal with it, as none of the ghosts in the cemetery wanted to try it with him for some reason, even the more reasonable of the shinobi ghosts. He could learn a shamanic occupation, but he didn't like the feel of the divination that Yohmei performed, a monk's life would require him to give up being a ninja, and being a shrine maiden was rather out of the question since he was male. With no other shamans around to learn from, he focused on being a ninja instead.

As for his social life, his friends were few, outside of the realm of the dead- the children mostly avoided him whenever possible. Apparently, Sasuke had spread rumors about him, which were further spread by his fangirls (he was quite popular despite being such a jerk), which tipped the already tilting balance in favor of their hatred of him. Even those who didn't outright hate Naruto were scared of him- it was easy to see why, considering that he often reacted to stimuli that weren't there, or would react to them before they occurred. However, nothing could ever be directly linked to him, so the other children considered him bad luck.

There were students who actually interacted with him; for instance, three boys named Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba didn't seem to care that he was 'bad luck' at all. They were the only boys his age that he got to hang out with, aside from Yoh- and they were the only ones who got to see the side of him he kept hidden behind the calm, mature facade that Yohmei had driven into him. Although he never mentioned spirits or shamanism to them, he was able to make them believe he had a 'secret jutsu' that allowed him to control leaves and pebbles, and hinted that it was the possible source of all of the rumors. Shikamaru had praised it, saying that it was perfect for a ninja, while Kiba immediately thought of how many ways you could prank people with it. Chouji, being a rather chubby child, wondered if it worked on potato chips (it didn't, to his disappointment).

He suspected that there actually were other children in the Academy who could see spirits, but he could never prove it- he was fairly certain that anybody who interacted with him couldn't see them, leaving only people who weren't willing to talk to him as possible ghost-seers. He had heard from Yohmei that there _were _other ninja with shamanic abilities, but he would have to 'find out on his own'. There were hints, though, that the few people Sasuke interacted with were also able to see ghosts, such as Sasuke's self-proclaimed girlfriend Yamanaka Ino. Every other girl in their class contested this position, especially 'Haruno Sakura', the pink-haired genius of the class, but Ino was the only one Sasuke didn't immediately shrug off every time she flirted with him, which frankly disturbed Naruto more than any spirit had.

Something that Naruto figured was at least part of the cause of Sasuke's hatred for himself were the spirits. Sasuke apparently never did receive a logical explanation for ghosts, and only knew that he could see them, that very few other people, if any at all, could, and that Naruto was associated with them. He had talked to some of the spirits, and had heard from them that Sasuke seemed to have an immense hatred for their very existence. Naruto could see why- there was an entire section of the graveyard devoted to the Uchiha clan, and it was entirely devoid of spirits, which was very unnatural considering the nature of their deaths. The obvious conclusion (to Naruto) was that a shaman had sent them all to the afterlife, as violent deaths almost always resulted in the spirit gaining an attachment for the world they departed from so unexpectedly. An entire massacre couldn't possibly occur without leaving a spirit behind.

In his 'family' life, something odd happened soon after his tenth birthday (he hoped it was odd, as it certainly wasn't the kind of thing that he heard the other children gossiping about). As school had been letting out, Tamao had appeared at the gate to the Academy, apparently waiting for him. Some of the other students were picking on her as she stood there, and the poor girl was too timid to fight back.

"Haha, what's a civilian girl like you doing standing out here?" "If you want to be a ninja, it's too late for that, you know!" "Maybe she's Sakura's sister? They have the same hair color..." "Are you waiting for someone?" "Oh, oh, maybe she has a crush on someone! Who is it, who is it?"

Naruto rushed over immediately. "Hey! Leave Tamao-chan alone!" The students were surprised that Naruto was being so forceful about something- he was usually the loner boy who sat there and said nothing whenever he could. With all of the rumors Sasuke had spread about him, they quickly dispersed- and with them, plenty more rumors that Naruto would have to deal with later. Naruto hurried over to his fellow servant of the Asakura household (he had long ago accepted the term, as 'ninja' were a kind of servant, although they actually got paid).

"Tamao-chan, are you alright? What's going on, you never come to the academy..."

The pink-haired girl seemed to be bothered by something more than the students. "There's... Something's happened to Yoh-sama!"

The blond didn't need to be told anything more- Tamao _never_ raised her voice unless something serious had happened. He immediately began dashing home, Tamao easily keeping up due to her own training in the wilderness (having never been outside of the village, Naruto could only guess why she'd need the body of a ninja to survive in the 'normal' world). Naruto had little trouble finding Yoh in his room- curled up in a ball as Ponchi and Konchi teased him about something.

"Kyahahaha! Yoh, we just heard the news! You should be proud of yourself!" "Yeah, a wife at your age? We're jealous!"

The young master sighed in annoyance. "Really? But..."

This apparently angered the two spirits, as their faces had contorted into cartoonish anger. "What's wrong?! If you're happy, then show it! Don't pretend you're annoyed!"

Naruto stamped his foot. "Hey! Stop bothering Yoh-sama!" The two spirits seemed to calm down immediately, backing off a little bit. Tamao appeared from behind Naruto, slightly worse for the wear.

"Stop teasing him! This isn't a decision Yoh made himself, you know! You two are spirits of this household, so start acting like it!"

As the two spirits immediately started pestering Yoh again- apparently, just to tick off Tamao- Naruto suddenly realized that something was off. "Hey, wait... I thought there was some kind of emergency or something..."

Yoh scratched the back of his head as Ponchi and Konchi began kicking at him while complaining about the likelihood that he had a 'cutie' for a wife. "Sorry, Naruto... Apparently, Grandma found someone she thinks should be my wife... Clan politics are so frustrating. And to think that I have to go meet her as soon as possible... Maaan, I've never left Konoha before!"

A voice came from outside of his window- it sounded old and wise, but it was not Yoh's grandfather. "It's no use being worried about it. Why don't you just go and see her?"

Everyone in the room looked outside of the window- there, on the roof, sat a cat, fully dressed in old-fashioned clothing and smoking a pipe. Yoh, being a relatively sheltered ten-year-old, began panicking. "Th-there's this weird cat out there!"

Tamao was pretty startled, as well. "That's a spirit, Yoh-sama!"

Naruto, meanwhile, was pretty suspicious of it- being a military village, there were many spirits hanging around, but this one was pretty different compared to any he had seen before. Not only that, but he had a bad feeling in his gut, as well. "That... doesn't look like a normal animal spirit..."

The cat slowly stood up while putting away a book it had apparently been reading. "My apologies. It's because of this matter that I came, but I don't know how to handle those troublesome things... Yoh-sama. Is it possible for you to ask those troublesome little brats to excuse us?" Naruto felt ready to tear into the cat when it continued speaking. "I, when in close contact with low-level animal spirits... feel quite uncomfortable."

Ponchi and Konchi seemed more than a little insulted, and launched into an equally cartoony 'gangster' imitation. "You little brat, we don't care where you came from..." "We died four hundred years ago- we're elite fox and raccoon spirits!" "No matter how much you brag, you're nothing but a little cat!" "Is that how you talk to your ancestors?"

Their target didn't seem phased in the least. "I suggest you had better put on clothes." Naruto couldn't help but suppress laughter at that- Ponchi and Konchi had _always_ been naked, save for Konchi's scarf, as much as everyone around them hated it- especially Ponchi, who held pride in being a tanuki and what that entailed.

Speaking of, Ponchi was all the more offended at the remark. "Stop talking nonsense, you're really ticking me off!"

At this point, the cat spirit started to be mildly annoyed. "Trying to bully others once you deem them no good? I personally dislike fighting, but to get rid of you pests, I suppose I have to." He narrowed his already narrow eyes, giving off the aura of one who was fully prepared to kill. "_Want to fight?_"

Ponchi and Konchi, being already dead, paid this no mind. "SOUNDS GOOD TO US!" Naruto blinked and missed it- a moment later, the two supposedly 'older' spirits were on their backs on the roof, their spirit bodies turning into dust on the breeze, leaving their 'skeletons' behind. The cat turned to face Yoh, two tails now sticking out from under his clothes.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I've been serving this household for about a thousand years. I wanted to roam about in this world for a bit more, but I came here especially to escort Yoh-sama. I am Matamune of the Cats." He gave a shallow bow, his two tails waving behind him. "From now on, let's work together."

Naruto had been absolutely shocked- he had never heard of spirits 'dying' before, but then again he hadn't been witness to spirits trying to kill each other before. Some of the ninja spirits occasionally sparred, but they were never out to _kill_ each other, and he always figured that was because they were already dead. Yoh, being even more sheltered than Naruto was, had nearly passed out at the sight. Tamao had surprisingly kept her calm- perhaps this wasn't the first time that Ponchi and Konchi had been 'killed'?

-o-o-

Ponchi and Konchi eventually recovered, but since Matamune was around to stay, they actually started wearing clothes- Tamao, shy as she was, was more than grateful. Matamune quickly integrated himself into the family, becoming Yoh's first 'mochirei', a spirit that accompanied a shaman wherever they went. Naruto had never taken a mochirei before- like Yoh, he didn't really go anywhere, so there was never really a place where he would be without a spirit anyways. Aside from that, there really wasn't much use in him having one since the spirits didn't seem to want to partner with him, despite being perfectly willing to chat. Ponchi and Konchi were technically Tamao's mochirei, as she was the apprentice of Yoh's father, Mikihisa, who used much older spirits of the same 'species' as the vulgar duo (though if you brought up the subject around the older two, you were bound to have nightmares for days).

Yoh soon departed to go meet his fiancé, with Matamune as his guide. He was gone for a few weeks, during which time Tamao also left for more training, leaving Naruto to bear the brunt of Ponchi and Konchi's devilish behavior as it was physical training rather than shaman training this time. Even worse, some rumors had started going around that he was 'an item' with Haruno Sakura, which only served to make her attack him whenever they were in close proximity (he guessed that Ino must've twisted whatever rumors had come from his meeting with Tamao at the gate). When Yoh came back, Matamune was gone, he was wearing some sort of claw-necklace, and he had a message that shocked Naruto and Tamao.

Naruto had been the most overtly surprised, though Tamao was being unusually quiet. "Huh? Wait, you're actually going through with this marriage thing, Yoh-sama?"

The brown-haired boy nodded casually, his eyes half-closed in exhaustion. "Yeah, I mean, why shouldn't I? She's cute, and she's nice enough, and..." At this point, his eyes glanced down at his new necklace, his voice gaining a mournful tone to it. "...and... well, it feels like... this is the right choice. Anyways, I need to catch some z's, Konoha is REALLY in the middle of nowhere. It took forever to get to the next town, let alone the Land of Snow... the trip back was even worse without Matamune, Grandma summoned some weird ninja spirits to guide me. Not fun..."

As Yoh disappeared to his room, Tamao started walking away, as well. Naruto realized that her behavior was more than off for someone as friendly as her. "Tamao-chan? What's wrong?"

She didn't turn to face him, instead freezing in place. "Wr-wrong? Nothing's... wrong. Yoh-sama found someone he wants to be his wife... what's wrong with that?" After a moment, she dashed, heading straight towards the servant quarters, where currently only Naruto and Tamao herself resided- and was a place that Tamao never headed to during the day. Naruto immediately followed her- he didn't rush, as he figured she was heading to her room. When he arrived, he could hear muffled sobs- she was crying. Ponchi and Konchi stood guard by her door, but they did nothing to stop him as he knocked on the door.

"Tamao-chan? Can I come in?" Her sobbing stopped, if for just a moment.

"G-go away! I... I..."

The blond sighed before speaking again. "Tamao-chan... when their friend is crying... what kind of person turns their back to it?" There was another pause before she resumed sobbing. Naruto slowly opened the door, and he could see her holding her pillow to herself as she cried on her bed. Now that he could see her, his courage was starting to falter, and he was having a hard time of trying to think of how he could talk to her and calm her down. After a moment, he decided on not talking a lot, and sat down next to her. "...Even if it's just as a shoulder to cry on... I'll be here for you."

Tamao held back her tears for a moment as Naruto spoke, but after another moment, she released her pillow and immediately clutched onto Naruto instead. "I... I... I wanted to be Yoh-sama's bride... I've trained for years to be a girl worthy to join the Asakura clan... but... but... he goes to meet some new girl, and... and..."

She cried again, both with her eyes and her voice. Naruto had seen many tears and heard many cries in his life- most of them his own, but some coming from Yoh's intense training- but Tamao's were the first that weren't his own that made him feel sad as well. He thought for a moment on what to say- after all, he still didn't 'get' why girls had this need for boyfriends and husbands, but apparently it was important to them. He wasn't nearly as wise as many of the spirits he hung around, but maybe he could say something that sounded wise enough to cheer her up- or maybe stupid enough to make her laugh. "Tamao-chan... I'll be rooting for you!" Her breath caught as he continued. "Yoh-sama's not married yet, right? You don't need to cry right now. In fact, you probably won't need to cry for years! Until then, smile and show him that you're the best girl around! And if he still wants this 'Anna' girl, I'll still be right at your side! Okay?"

Tamao looked up at him, causing him to falter in his composure for a moment. He wondered if he had just said something really stupid after all; who would honestly expect him to keep his promise of being a shoulder to cry on for that long? "Naruto-kun... I..." She smiled at something, before letting go of him and wiping her tears. "Have you... been reading my manga?"

Naruto scowled at her words. "Hey! I thought it up myself! If it sounds like it's from a manga, then that just means that great minds think alike!"

He was glad to hear her give a light chuckle at his antics- this side of him was rarely seen around the Asakura household, but he was going to have to bring it out more often. As he chuckled himself, Tamao's gentle smile returned, the sadness on her face banished like an evil spirit. "Thank you... Naruto-kun. I won't cry over Yoh-sama anymore... I promise." She began blushing, though Naruto was too oblivious himself to notice it, smiling at his success.

"Good!" He heard some snickering coming from outside of the room, immediately catching his attention. "Excuse me for a minute, I'm hungry and I could really go for some roast kitsune and tanuki." As Naruto started giving chase to the spirit duo, his yells echoing throughout the building, Tamao giggled to herself.

"Maybe... I was looking at the wrong guy all this time after all..."

-o-o-

**ED note:** For those of you who haven't gathered it by now, the pairing of this story is OFFICIALLY Naruto x Tamao (with numerous, non-Naruto related pairings on the side), so you guys can stop pestering me for NaruHina :P And yes, Naruto totally just gave an Accidental Childhood Marriage Promise to Tamao. If she turns out anything like canon Tamao, he will regret this come Shippuden. Note: Since Tamao has been 'aged up' for this story, Tamao at this point is as old as Tamao at the beginning of Shaman King. I will leave you to your nightmares of Ryu hitting on a 10-year old now.

...maybe I should rethink the ages... Yoh is, what, 14 when the Shaman Fights start? Though, I guess if Naruto is 13 during the Chunin Exams, and Yoh was born in July... okay, it makes sense to me now.

Anyways, let me know if you spot mistakes or something! I'm my own beta-reader- not the best idea XP

Raidentensho: Cookie for most creative guess so far (Koropokkuru/Minutian or similar spirit, due to his talent in dealing with ko-oni), but no dice. Elemental affinity being earth is also a no-go, I don't want him to have the same affinity as Yoh. I could narrow it down further, but then I'd be just plain spoiling who's going to be in the story and who isn't. Thanks for the idea on evolving his talent with ko-oni, btw, though it'll be a while before he gets any use out of the idea I had.


	4. Demon of the Leaves

**OP notes:** Credit to Hekireki no Makai for coming up with a completely story-changing idea just in the nick of time (before it became too late to implement it). Sorry for taking so long to write, I got into a slump again. I hope that the feel of the story didn't change too much, I may have had too much fun with this one XD Still haven't received an accurate guess on Naruto's first mochirei, you'll be losing your opportunity within the next chapter or two :) Get cracking!

-o-o-

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Shaman King**

-o-o-

The next few days had been normal for Naruto, though Tamao's behavior still seemed a little bit off. Yoh was in a bit of a daze, so Naruto couldn't rely on him too well for company, either. However, something soon happened that threw off Naruto's entire way of life- Anna arrived.

She had come in the middle of the week, so that when everyone arrived home from school, she was already there. Yoh was pleasantly surprised to see her, Naruto was a bit baffled as to why she hadn't come home with Yoh herself, though she claimed that after some reflection she had decided she had not grown enough as a shaman where she lived and came to the main household for further training. He was even more baffled when Tamao didn't seem affected by her appearance much at all. It hadn't been that long ago that Tamao had been crying because Anna existed, but now she was acting like she wasn't a problem.

Anna was blond, with shoulder-length straight hair. Her eyes were narrow, and cold; they gave an impression of complete superiority to everything reflected within them. She wore a simple black dress, with rosary beads worn casually around her neck. Naruto had found her chatting with Yoh when he came home from the Academy, and she immediately launched into an inspection of her new servant after introductions; apparently Tamao was already going through the same. After putting him through his paces, which included how fast he could do menial tasks she would request often (which Yoh had never done before, though Yohmei had done so occasionally) and how good of a shaman he was, she came to a conclusion.

"Inexcusable."

Naruto restrained himself, as he was supposed to be showing the same amount of respect to her as he would the actual Asakura family. "E-excuse me?"

She glared at him, sending shivers down his spine- she seemed far from the ideal woman that Yoh had made her out to be. "I just said 'inexcuseable', didn't I? Your abilities as a servant are subpar, and you're too good of a shaman compared to Yoh. Having a servant who is stronger than the master but unable to serve is unacceptable. Tell me, how did you get so strong, and why isn't Yoh even stronger?" Her fingers were gripping her crossed arms, giving a definitive aura of annoyance.

He didn't have much of an idea on where this conversation was leading, but he could feel that it was nowhere good. "I-I'm a ninja in training, Anna-sama. We train our minds and bodies daily there." That, and Yoh-sama doesn't have the best work ethic, he thought to himself.

A glint of light reflected off of her eyes for a moment as they glanced at Yoh. "I see... Ninja, huh? It'd be pointless for Yoh to train as one, since it'd take away from his shaman training... But, it'd certainly be useful for him to train like you have. Since I can't afford for him to have distractions such as loyalty to some old farts... I'll do it."

Yoh, being the one not under complete scrutiny, still had the courage to speak to her. "...Um. Do what, Anna?"

Her eyes turned their wrath on Yoh, freeing Naruto from their influence- for now. "Join the ninja force and steal their training methods, of course. I doubt I can rely on servant-boy here too well for that."

As Naruto tried to object to being doubted as a ninja, he realized the absurdity of her course of action. "Wait, wait- how are you going to do that? The Academy takes years to get through for the average person, and-"

He was interrupted by a slap from Anna, which had not only taken him by surprise, but knocked him off balance as well. She glared at him again as he fell onto the floor. "Average? I'm going to be the wife of the Shaman King one day. Such a word doesn't apply to me. Now be quiet and get me a soda, your tea is horrible."

-o-o-

Her treatment of him continued to be horrible over the course of the week. Tamao tried to stand up to her at one point, but she was quickly enslaved as well. Yoh had apparently already been brought under her influence (Naruto even wondered if his love for her was a way to mask the fear), so even he couldn't save them. Ponchi and Konchi had also tried to resist her- they quickly learned that Anna was the most capable shaman in the household, and were also enslaved (though they always resumed their antics whenever she left their presence). They only received a break when Anna decided to tour the village, and specifically their graveyard. Surprisingly, she didn't run them ragged over the weekend, and instead disappeared for most of each day.

When it came time to head back to the Academy, Naruto was horrified when Anna insisted that he walk her there. Apparently she had already been accepted, with the Hokage's approval; Naruto couldn't fathom her being able to make the village's most powerful ninja submit to her, but she had the papers to prove it. When they arrived, things went from bad to worse; Anna was bombarded with questions, since a 'new student' her age was theoretically impossible, and she quickly cleared any misunderstandings about her relationship to Naruto- to Naruto's horror.

"Naruto is not my boyfriend, nor is he my brother. We have more of a... master and servant relationship."

Kiba had been the first to laugh at what she said, his puppy, Akamaru, sitting on his head. "Hey, Naruto! Are you going to sit there and take that?"

Naruto only stood there awkwardly in response- he had never revealed his actual living conditions to his friends before. Anna's retort rose his spirits a bit, however. "It's not like you're in a better position, Mutt. You have to carry your master. He might as well put a leash on you so he can tell you where to go."

Kiba could only sputter as the children started focusing on his embarrassment rather than Naruto's, like a pack of wolves presented with an easier target (Naruto noted the irony), and the shaman duo made their way to class undetected. To Naruto's even greater horror, she had somehow gotten into his class- even blackmail couldn't have gotten her here. She wasn't a ninja- she had displayed a total lack of ignorance of how chakra worked before, he specifically remembered her being confused by it when he talked about being a ninja before. Iruka was apparently just as confused when class started, but he managed to put on a facade of understanding as he spoke to the class, with Anna standing besides him. "Okay class, you've probably heard the rumors, so here's what's up- miss Kyoyama Anna has moved here to Konohagakure due to some clan politics. She's received some ninja training before, but she's not quite up to par with Konoha standards, so she's in here with us."

One word popped into Naruto's head- Liar! Anna glanced in his direction, causing him to freeze for a moment before she faced the class with her ever-present dark look. "As he said, I am Kyoyama Anna, future bride of the Asakura clan. I look forward to training with you." Suddenly, the spirits of some rather generic looking ninja appeared behind her, and Naruto realized exactly what her trip to the graveyard was for. He glanced around at the room- the only person visibly reacting was Sasuke, who had tensed considerably. Ino, who was sitting next to him, noticed this and tried to get him to relax. Other than them, he didn't see anyone panic at the appearance of the spirits, so any other potential shamans were either not here or they were better ninja than they were letting on in class.

Kiba, having already been humiliated by her earlier, decided to call her out on something. "'Asakura' clan? Never heard of them, and I happen to know quite a bit about the ninja clans of this village! There's no way you're a full clan with servants and a hold in village politics!"

Naruto immediately felt like shrinking at the word 'servants', but Anna held firm- Naruto would've been surprised if anything could make her falter. "That's because the Asakura clan is a civilian clan. They do not provide ninja training to their members. Why do you think I'm only at your level, Mutt?"

Iruka hit her on the back of her head with a clipboard, nearly causing a heart attack in Naruto. "Don't insult your classmates on your first day, Anna." Kiba was laughing for all of a second before a piece of chalk beamed him in the forehead. "And while it's all well and good that you know how to provoke your enemies, Kiba, learn how to dodge their inevitable attacks before you actually try it." The rest of the class was now laughing, and Kiba was once again humiliated due to Anna.

Naruto made a mental note not to count how many times the words 'humiliated due to Anna' would apply to any incidents that would occur in the future.

Two years. Two, long, horrible years. That's what Anna felt as she finally walked out of the Academy with the piece of metal that signified that she was a full-fledged ninja now. _All of those people are idiots... I should have been out of here a long time ago. I'm glad that we get to be assigned to actually competent teachers next, those stupid ghosts refused to teach me more than it took to get out of the Academy. They were surprisingly willful..._ She looked back, and saw Naruto walking out with his own headband. "Oh, hey, you passed. I'm surprised."

Naruto could barely muster up a glare. "Hey, you're the one who used me as a guinea pig on what training methods actually worked well..." Anna glared back at him, crushing his resistance efforts. "...Anna-sama."

She continued walking away as she talked. "And it obviously worked, too- you're not dropping out, Yoh's a lot stronger- everyone's happy."

He resisted saying 'Define happy'- there was no opposing Anna. All the same, he couldn't help but smile- he had finally become a ninja! Now, his training would accelerate, and he'd become much stronger much faster. Becoming as strong as he could... that was his goal.

He felt a hand grab his shoulder- it was Shikamaru, who had his proof of graduation wrapped around his left shoulder. "Good luck, Naruto... after all- you still have to deal with her at home."

Naruto frowned-Anna had not earned the nickname "Demon of the Leaves" among the Academy students for nothing. "Hey, don't pat yourself on the back yet- they said we'll be in teams, right? I'll laugh if you're on her team and I'm not."

Shikamaru visibly shivered at the thought. "Don't even joke, man. I'm probably going to be on a team with Chouji and Ino, since our dads were on the same team."

Naruto's mood dropped a bit at the mention of parents- he had long ago accepted being parentless, but that hadn't stopped him from trying to find out their identities- he still hadn't had any luck. He thought of a joke to brighten his mood. "You know, I doubt Ino will take it well if she's not partnered with her precious Sasuke..."

Shivers went down Shikamaru's spine again. "Great, now I have even _more_ reason to hate this whole teams thing. Thanks a lot."

They both flinched as they heard Anna's voice. "Get over here, Whiskers! I don't have all day!"

Naruto bid his friend farewell, and hurried to catch up to Anna... and to get away from the adults that had come to congratulate their children. He had felt more than one glare at his new headband- even though the children didn't like him because of whatever Sasuke said, the adults had never liked him, so he wasn't surprised that they didn't like his latest achievement. Even if Anna treated him like dirt, he was glad that it wasn't because she had been influenced, but rather because she just treated everyone like that.

As they walked away, the teachers watched over the students that had been under their care one last time. Iruka had a rueful smile on his face as he watched the backs of the blonds. "School's going to be boring without those two..."

The Hokage was standing next to him, with a much more joyful expression. "That Anna girl... is much kinder than she lets on."

Iruka nodded in agreement. "Yeah... Naruto rarely came out of his shell in class before she came here, but afterwards, it seemed like their every moment together was spirited. Whenever he got down about anything, she'd just order him around and he'd forget about hiding his frustration. I used to get pretty frustrated myself just getting him to talk..."

He heard chuckling coming from the old ninja next to him. "Is that so? It sounds like they'd make a good team..."

Mizuki, another teacher and a friend of Iruka's, had overheard the conversation and couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Maybe if she was the squad leader. Bossiest student I've ever seen, that Anna. Had most of the students under her thumb, and a couple of the teachers, too."

-o-o-o-

That day, the two new shamanic ninja (Anna preferred 'ninja shaman', as being a ninja was more of a hobby to her, which Naruto couldn't understand at all) had come home to quite a little celebration; Tamao and Keiko had cooked a large meal for the graduates, and the only real complaints were from Ponchi and Konchi, who couldn't eat. Naruto was especially glad for the ramen that Tamao had made; she had apparently gotten tips from a restaurant in town, which had turned Naruto into a new customer. He had always been a fan of the normally simple food for some reason or another.

After the celebration, it was back to business as usual for the Asakura household. Thankfully, Anna had gone to do some shopping so she would look 'appropriate' for her future profession, and had left Naruto behind so that he could have a normal afternoon. He decided to spend that afternoon with Yoh and his new mochirei, a man named Amidamaru who claimed to be an ancient samurai. Yoh had gone out for some 'special training' recently, and had come back with the spirit.

"So... this land used to have a feudal castle on it?"

Amidamaru nodded, his long silver ponytail remaining disturbingly still since he was a spirit. "Yes. It was quite a long time ago, though... hundreds of years ago. It was eventually abandoned when the capital of the country was moved much farther away, so the ghosts of this area mostly moved on to the afterlife. It was less than a hundred years ago that the ninja even built this village, and they were like nothing I had ever seen before."

Naruto was actually pretty interested- this man was older than any spirit he had met within the village itself, since the graveyard was only as old as the first person who died here. "Cool! So why did you stay in this world for so long?"

The ghost was about to elaborate when Tamao came in, with her usual servile demeanor. "Rock-san is here, Yoh-sama. He wishes to know if you're alright, since I told him you'd be back today."

Yoh blinked in surprise, before suddenly recalling what it was she was talking about. "Oh, I forgot to tell him about my training... probably because Anna came up with it rather quickly..."

Naruto had the same reaction. "Rock-san? Who's that?"

Yoh laughed as he got up. "A friend I made on the jogs Anna puts me through. He's obsessed with exercise, and does laps around the village all the time. Our training schedules overlap, so we make it a point to jog together."

Naruto was a bit surprised that he hadn't heard about this Rock person before, but he was even more surprised to hear that Yoh had actually made a friend in the village proper- Yoh was even more separated from the 'normal' world than Naruto was. He smiled before getting up himself. "Well, don't let me hold you here. Now that Anna-sama doesn't have school anymore, she's going to drive you into the ground."

Yoh thanked him (while putting on his 'scared of Anna' face) and left, Amidamaru following closely behind him. Tamao stayed behind, fidgeting as usual; Naruto still hadn't figured out why she got like that whenever she was alone with someone. He stood up as well, dusting his servant's kimono. "Well, I said that, but... There's nothing left to do around here but chores, is there..."

As he passed her on his way out, she grabbed his hand, looking like she was trying to say something. "Y-you know... I still need to show you that restaurant, huh?"

Naruto blinked for a moment, and realized what she was saying. "Oh, uh... not today, Tamao-chan." She seemed crushed, until Naruto finished what he was saying. "You went to all that trouble to get the recipe, I want to eat your version a few more times before checking out theirs..." Her mood made a swift turnaround; Naruto never understood her quick moodswings, but he was glad that a compliment was all it ever really took to get her in a good mood.

-o-o-

They soon settled into their daily routines, and it felt like no time at all until it was time to sleep. Unusually, Anna told the other blond that he had 'guard duty' that night, and had left him out in the courtyard to watch the estate until he was 'relieved of duty'. She claimed that it was because, being a ninja now, he was expected to do 'random ninja things' for the clan, but Naruto knew better- as 'random' as Anna's harsh demands were, there was always some deeper meaning to whatever she did (or so he hoped- he'd hate to think that she was really just that much of a jerk). The clan had spirits that served well as alarms for when something was wrong- posting a guard meant that there would be a situation that would need rather immediate tending to.

Just because he was aware that there must be importance to the job, however, did not mean that Naruto took it very seriously. The grounds were boring at night- his only company would be Ponchi and Konchi, and he didn't feel like keeping them for company. Amidamaru was around as well, but he would be guarding Yoh directly. He camped out the night sitting in a tree, and more than once he could almost feel himself drifting off because he decided to think about things other than how boring this job was. He was quite surprised, then, when he actually noticed that someone had infiltrated the compound, sneaking from door to door- and upon seeing who it was, he became quite frightened, for it was an older ninja.

The man was dressed in standard attire for a Konoha ninja, but with the amount of equipment he had, combined with how covered up he was, there was no mistake over whether he was here on friendly business. He was torn for a moment on whether to act or not, due to his conflicting loyalties, but two images flashed through his mind- the old Hokage understanding why he attacked one of his fellow ninja... and Anna being furious over why he didn't. Without one more moment of hesitation, Naruto charged up a ko-oni from a pebble he had kept in his hand- while a leaf would be more ideal, this wasn't the season for dead leaves, and a freshly picked leaf didn't work well for this technique. Plus, the pebble had been a good way to occupy his time.

The ko-oni flew straight towards the ninja, who was now carefully making his way across the grounds- if Naruto had wanted the man dead, he'd be using a lot more than one. This was a warning shot, which was tactically a dumb idea, but sometimes perpetrators made more mistakes after getting caught, even by an incompetent guard, than they would normally if they thought they could still get away with something. Though, as it was Konoha training material, this guy probably knew it just as well as he did. Instead of beaming the man in the head like a normal pebble would, though, a ko-oni was capable of a bit more- it landed next to him, jumped up, and kicked his knee in.

The man was obviously quite surprised when he turned around and only saw a pebble floating there. After all, being a ninja did not mean that you were spiritually aware- spirits could not be seen, heard, or sensed in any way if you didn't have the ability to interact with them. Of course, they were more than capable of interacting with the living if they were given a medium such as a pebble. "Who's there?"

Naruto snorted- like he would actually give away his position so quickly. The pebble attacked the man again, though the ninja seemed a bit more prepared this time- though, not prepared enough to avoid the phantom punch it threw. Ko-oni were small spirits, but they were each as strong as a civilian adult male- nothing a ninja couldn't handle under normal conditions. 'Infiltrating a shaman compound' was not a normal condition.

The ko-oni attacked again, and this time the man seemed to have gotten the feel of it down. He quickly moved away from the pebble, and towards the center of the courtyard, near Naruto's tree... which was by a pond, littered with pebbles. The man didn't seem paranoid enough to avoid more of the things, but he was well into the open now, and too close to the tree to make it a good hiding spot. He quietly jumped down, making sure to take out a kunai while he was at it to defend himself, and quietly building enough energy to summon more ko-oni as shields if need be. "Uzumaki Naruto, Genin of this village. Care to explain why you're trespassing?"

The man's eyes widened when he saw who it was. "Uzumaki... shouldn't you be in bed? You've got registration in the morning."

Though the voice was muffled and rougher than usual, Naruto recognized it all the same. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here, Mizuki-sensei... Strike one."

Mizuki took off his facemask, since it was pretty useless now- the man put on a gentle face, to try to disarm Naruto. "Come on, it's just me. There's no real need to be suspicious, is there?"

Naruto had never liked Mizuki- he had the aura of a liar about him, the boy seemed to have a talent for spotting such things. "Strike two, sensei. Explain yourself before I use force."

Right on cue, the man's gentle face gave way to anger. "I always figured you were a dumb little demon... It's a shame that you actually learned from me, I was hoping to have fun with you before I killed you!" He charged- almost too quickly for the ko-oni at Naruto's feet to react in time. Mizuki had a better reaction time and spotted the pebble leaping at him, and jumped away before he could be touched. "Weird jutsu you've got there, demon brat!"

The taunt broke Naruto's nerves- Mizuki was not the first to call him a demon. "I'll admit that I'm not a normal kid, and that I don't have normal abilities..." He took a deep breath, preparing a shout that would serve more than one purpose. "...but you should just shut up about things you don't understand!"

The man sneered at Naruto's attempt to alert the others- he probably thought that he still wasn't in any real danger, considering that this was a secluded civilian manor. "I understand perfectly, demon brat! Better than you do, that's for sure! I've had plenty of chances to observe you, and I know you don't know your own secret. Funny that you don't, even though you were raised by these spiritualist wackos."

-o-o-

Naruto's shout had not gone unheard- in fact, Anna had stayed hidden behind a wall the entire night, out of sight, and was listening to every word. Ponchi and Konchi were with her, obviously quite worried. Ponchi peeked at the intruder through the wall. "H-hey... Shouldn't we help him? This isn't something he's ready for..."

Anna's glance was enough to quiet the plea. "Some lessons need to be learned the hard way. The _very_ hard way."

Konchi sighed as he tried to get into a carefree mood, high-strung as he was. "You know, Yoh's probably gonna get involved."

She was still rather indifferent. "If he can't handle a scumbag like Mizuki, he was only that much of a man."

Her voice was much icier than it usually was, and the two spirits felt chills down their spines- an accomplishment, considering they were dead. _Anna is... scary._

-o-o-

Naruto's curiosity got the better of him. He normally knew a rookie mistake to make when he was making one- this was certainly one of them, but this was a lifetime mystery that Mizuki was offering to solve, which was really screwing with his judgment. "Wh-what? What are you talking about?"

The sneer on Mizuki's lips promised only ill will. "The secret that the whole village has kept from you... You've noticed, haven't you? All the bad looks, the name calling, the nasty treatments... that's not the kind of thing that happens to a normal person, I'm sure even you know that, right?" Naruto had to agree- his life was... far from normal. The man continued on his rant. "I'll tell you, then! The secret this whole village has kept from you- that the demon that destroyed the village didn't die 12 years ago! It lived on, in the form of a little boy... named Uzumaki Naruto!"

Years of bad memories came pouring into Naruto's head all at once. _Demon! Fox brat! Why are you still here? You don't belong to anyone, go away with your tails between your legs!_ Pain, suffering, loneliness, hatred, and anguish- so many memories, long since locked away, now made complete sense. Naruto's heart was disturbed enough to break his hold on his familiars- though Mizuki could not see spirits, he could at least see that the technique had been cancelled. He charged, taking out a hidden blade to attack with. Naruto didn't even have the chance to react.

When he could finally register what was going on again, Mizuki's attack had been repelled by Yoh, who was wielding a katana. His aura seemed much more intense than normal- it was obvious to Naruto that he was letting Amidamaru inhabit his body. Yoh turned his head slightly. "Are you alright, Naruto?"

The blond's mind had emptied, allowing his knees to collapse from under him. As he stared at the boy who represented all that was good in his life, all he could think of was one question. "Why...? Why?"

Yoh was apparently confused. "Why what? You're my friend, Naruto. I don't need any more reason than that... Do you?" All of the good memories- laughter, smiles, working with Tamao, competing with Yoh, getting scolded by Yohmei and coddled by Mikihisa and Keiko, and bickering with Anna- came back to Naruto, and he was able to smile again, though he still felt very weak.

"Thank you... Yoh-sama..."

Mizuki cursed his luck- who knew that a civilian would be pretty handy with a sword? Naruto was spacing out, which meant that the fight was still well in his favor. The young swordsman turned his attention back to the intruder. "You passed strike 3 a while ago... I'm gonna give you one chance to explain yourself before I cut you down."

The older ninja noticed how Yoh held himself as he said this. The stance was far from textbook... but far from an amatuer's. If the boy's reflexes were good enough, Mizuki would be in trouble. -This brat... There's more to him than I thought... Especially since he seems to have been listening in before the brat called for help. I should try to throw him off balance for a moment, and strike then.- "If you have to know, I'm after some scrolls of yours. Don't know what my boss wants with some cult stuff like that, but it's my ticket out of this dump."

This did not sit well with Yoh- not even that the Asakura clan was being targeted, but by a Konoha ninja. "Your boss...? You mean you're not even loyal to your own village?"

The tone in his voice kind of scared Naruto- Yoh was always a kind and caring person. It was little more than the effect of Hyoi Gattai, but in Naruto's eyes, a person as pure as Yoh had no reason to have any kind of anger in his words. Mizuki, not knowing that Yoh had never been angered in his life before, did not realize that he was digging his own grave by angering him further. "If you can even call this my village! This place is way too quiet and peaceful for my tastes... they're all tree-hugging hippies, even the ones full of hate are too wimpy to do anything about it! Me, I think I'm going to do them all a favor and kill the object of their hatred here and now, while I'm here!"

He threw a few kunai at Yoh, who easily deflected them with Amidamaru's skills. However, there immediately came the sound of something burning to Yoh's ears- small paper tags were attached to each kunai, and they were now burning down. Yoh could barely react before they exploded, sending him flying backwards past Naruto. The blond could swear that time slowed down as Yoh flew past him, and he could see every detail- his clothes and skin were burnt, the katana sailing through the air now that it was separated from Yoh's hands, and Amidamaru being forcibly removed from Yoh's body when he hit the tree behind them. The last one, Naruto had been told, was never a good sign- a spirit's expulsion from a shaman's body meant that they had been thoroughly damaged.

Everyone present- Mizuki, Amidamaru, and those hidden and watching the event unfold- could feel the pressure of Naruto's energy spike. Red energy flowed from Naruto's body as he held his hand out in front of him, his eyes staring into Mizuki's with nothing but rage. Mizuki glared back, not disturbed in the least that Naruto's eyes had actually turned red, before noticing that behind Naruto, all of the pebbles by the pond were floating in the air.

All of them.

-o-o-

From behind them, Ponchi was visibly shaken as he looked at the sheer wall of spirits Naruto had summoned. "So many ko-oni... How did he call them all? It looks like that he would've called more if there were more pebbles...!"

Anna, although tense, still refused to actually watch. "Ko-oni are still oni... They are naturally drawn towards negative emotions. One of the most terrifying things about the Kyuubi no Youko is that it's a mass of hatred that trumps any oni... To put its power in the hands of a shaman... It wouldn't be too far off to call that shaman 'King of Demons'."

Konchi was hugging himself for warmth, despite having fur. "Even though we've shared Naruto's body, I've never felt its presence before... Can that thing really be a fox spirit?"

"...who knows?"

-o-o-

If Mizuki could see the small spirits, he might actually have been scared of them. Instead, he made one final mistake- opening his big mouth. "He got what a demon lover deserved... I'll make sure to send you straight to him in Hell!"

The true demons surged forward with speed, ferocity, and worst of all, coordination. Mizuki had thrown weapons, but to him, they appeared to only come under Naruto's control as the ko-oni began wielding whatever they caught. He tried to escape, but the pebble Naruto had originally used against him latched onto his leg. His eyes widened before they were obscured from Naruto's view by the sheer wall of them, and his cries of pain were quickly silenced as the demons beat the man into unconsciousness.

His rage satiated, Naruto turned to see the state Yoh was in- Amidamaru stood next to him, examining the young Asakura. He was obviously burned, but not as much as Naruto expected him to be- explosive paper tags were designed to kill, after all. The samurai spirit seemed to actually be crying. "He is burned, and the force of the blast knocked him unconscious... I didn't completely negate the damage when I jumped back, I'm a failure as a samurai!"

Naruto stood there silently as Amidamaru took the blame, staring at the face of the boy he had also sworn to protect. All of the pent-up energy he seemed to gain from anger had disappeared by now. A heavy hand clapped him on the shoulder, and somehow he could tell that it was Mikihisa, even though he had thought the man had left for training that afternoon. "You did well considering the circumstances, as did Yoh. You have nothing to be ashamed of; mistakes are how we learn." The man was certainly as fond of clichéd lines as Mikihisa was. "...and if you feel that your body is undergoing changes, we can have a man to man talk." It was _definitely_ Mikihisa. He always went overboard with being a fatherly figure, to make up for rarely being there.

"As for the intruder... I'm sure we can keep him restrained for the authorities. I doubt anyone else will be intruding tonight, but if they do..." The man's grip tightened, causing Naruto very slight discomfort. "...well, let's just say I won't be in a good mood tonight. Go to bed, Naruto- all will be explained to you tomorrow... you're probably very tired after pulling that stunt."

Naruto was about to protest when everything went dark, and he fell into unconsciousness. That night, he dreamed that he had been trying to rescue a princess from a demon with the help of a samurai. Oddly, the samurai looked like Yoh, while the princess was Tamao. It had been a pleasant dream until the demon revealed its true form to be Anna.

-o-o-

**ED Note:** I had not originally planned Anna to be a ninja, and had in fact thought to do nothing more than leave her as she was in SK. What I was going to do with her came up in discussion, however, and I realized that holy crap the story would be cooler if I made her more active. Please do not get on my case about Anna being a Sue, I'm not really making her any worse than she is in canon XD Speaking of, you may notice something... off, with Anna's behavior. If you do, I guess I can't stop you from spoiling the rest of us, but some people might be better off waiting for the reveal ;)

I hope I managed to work the Mizuki scene well, but it comes off as kind of weird to me, and that's after I've edited it severely. I just seem to make paragraphs unusually large :\ If anyone has suggestions to make it flow better, tell me and I might use them.

As for Naruto's mochirei, the question of 'Obviously not Minato, so why not Kushina?' has been answered by canon, so you can cross her off of your guess list :P Someone actually got pretty close, but not close enough :P


End file.
